Iowa couple works with U.S. Bank to grow their custom electronics manufacturing firm

The business, founded in their garage 20 years ago, is now in a former elementary school

When Ray and Candace Price met as colleagues in the 1990s, they were both working at the same electronics manufacturer. Looking for stability and opportunity, Ray asked his now wife, Candace, about an idea: starting their own business.

That moment led to the creation of Hi-Tech Electronics Assemblies in 2005, an electronic manufacturing company that provides customized services from prototyping parts to kitted production. The business also brought the Prices closer to where they grew up near Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The Prices, with decades of experience in the industry between them, started the business in their garage, filling it with machines to create things like circuit boards. Quickly outgrowing the space, they moved to a location less than a block from the downtown U.S. Bank branch in Council Bluffs. Eventually, they made it to where they are today: an old elementary school turned into an electronics manufacturing facility.

“Everything here is quite nice for what we need,” Ray said. “We do a lot of different cables, harnesses, antennas and different board builds for customers – just depending on their need.”

Meeting those needs involves specialized equipment, Ray said, and hiring additional employees in the summer, which is the company’s busy season.

That specialized equipment includes cable-cutting machines for antennas that help large-scale sprinklers more efficiently water crops. It also includes equipment to create circuit boards that determine the right amount of propane to dispense. All of it is needed to help manage costs and speed up the delivery of what are often custom and proprietary parts.

“The equipment they use, it can be really pricey,” said BJ Pirie, a small business specialist who has known the Prices since he was a personal banker at the U.S. Bank branch by their old facility. “We were able to help finance one of their larger pieces of equipment that churns out a few thousand parts an hour.”

Pirie, who got to know the Prices as they visited the branch to make deposits, has been there as the they grew their business. Over the years, he’s supported them through a variety of U.S. Bank products and services, Ray said.

“BJ has been very helpful as far as equipment finance goes and for ideas for money markets or CDs,” said Ray, who has both his personal and business accounts at U.S. Bank.

This year, Ray and Candace will celebrate 20 years since the founding of their business. They hope for many more years to come.

“It’s been a fun journey,” Ray said. “It’s electronics, you know, it’s going to be here for a long time, and there always seems to be something new: a new build, a new customer.”